Everything will be alright
by Andie B. Glind
Summary: Gibbs is kidnapped and he befriends a mysterious teenage girl. Will they be able to escape? And will he be able to help the damage child heal? Please read and review :)
1. Chapter 1

"Who are you?" Gibbs struggled to focus on the face in front of him. His whole body hurts and his mind was fuzzy. He was definitely drugged by someone, but right now, it was hard to remember. The person in front of him was staring at him intently, a Chinese teenage girl no more than 16 or 17. She looked like she had just been in a fight, a bruise was heeling over her eyes, her lips looked as if it had been bleeding and a cut ran above her eyebrow.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Where am I?" Gibbs asked trying to push himself off the floor. He seems to be in a abandoned lab, a chemistry lab to be exact when he saw the burettes on the table. He had no idea where he was, and he hated that he was feeling so weak.

"A chemistry lab off Norfolk naval base," the girl replied. Pushing him down, she continued, "You were drugged, you should probably sleep it off."

"No..." Gibbs protested, there was no way he was going to sleep when he had no idea where he was, or what happened, or who he was with. In fact, he had no idea about anything.

"Well, have a drink," she said, handing him a cup of water. Taking a sip, he realised that it was no plain water, it tasted weird. Instinctively, he spitted the mouthful of water out.

"What is in this?" Gibbs demanded.

"Salt, sugar and water, with a bit of caffeine added," the girl turned around to reply him in a matter-of-fact tone. Looking at his face, she continued, "It is an oral rehydration therapy solution and the caffeine will make you feel better. Trust me, it is good for you."

"Why should I trust you?" Gibbs asked. It was a born trait of an investigator not to trust anyone.

"Cause I just saved your ass?" the girl said in an isn't-it-obvious tone, sitting down beside Gibbs. Clearly she was not intimidated by Gibbs, a rare trait in any sensible person. As a reply, Gibbs lifted the cup to her lips and took a big gulp.

"Who are you?" Gibbs asked.

"Brenda Lee," the girl said, sticking out her hand at Gibbs.

"Gibbs, Leroy Jethro Gibbs," Gibbs said taking her hand.

"How did you get here?" Brenda asked, adjusting her position so she come face to face with Gibbs.

"Why don't you answer some of my questions?" Gibbs asked in return.

"Why should I trust you?" she retorted.

"I'm an NCIS agent, I would show you my badge, but I think they took it when they drugged me."

"So, what case were you investigating when you landed yourself here?"

"A case of a murder of a petty officer, I think the murderer wanted to kill me, instead he kidnapped me instead," Gibbs said, "what did you do?"

"Don't want to talk about it," Brenda said, "but I can tell you that you are probably right about who killed the petty officer, in the alley behind unit 3 of Norfolk base right?"

"How did you know?"

"He told me," Brenda said simply, looking at her hands.

"Who is he?" Gibbs' demanded again, his voice turning forceful.

"I don't know his name, they call him Pacman," Brenda shrugged her shoulder, looking defeated.

"He did that to you?" Gibbs asked in a slightly more gentle tone, gesturing at her face.

"Yeah, he did," Brenda refused to look at Gibbs. Turning around, she walked back to her lab table before saying to Gibbs, "you should finish the drink."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Gibbs asked. Brenda had been working on some chemistry things for the whole afternoon. Gibbs really had no idea what was going through the mind of this girl.

"You don't need to know," the reply was curt.

"Why not?"

"Listen, I will be gone by 8 tonight, there's something I would need you to help me to do. Look at this, it is set at 170 degrees, at 12 tonight, I need you to turn the temperature down to 100 degrees. At 2 am, add this liquid into it, drop-wise, slowly like over 15 minutes or something. You got that?" Brenda ignored Gibbs' question.

"Yes," Gibbs said, surprised at the urgency of Brenda's voice.

"Why will you be gone by 8?"

"He wants me by 8. Dinner will be served at 7, which is in half an hour."

"What time will you be back?"

"Around 2, 3am? You will probably be spending the night here alone, it will be cold, you see those two container? Take 2 spoons of the solid and add it to 400ml of the liquid in a plastic bag. It will act as a heat pack, not very good, but decent enough." she said pointing to two plastic container at the corner of the room.

"Why are you doing this?" Gibbs asked confused?

"Doing what?"

"Saving me?"

"Cause I need your help to bust us out of here."

* * *

 **Please read and review. I am not a native English speaker so please forgive any grammatical and spelling mistakes, and/or any awkward expressions. I will continue with the story soon. Take care everyone and thank you :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone, thank you so so much for all the reviews and for following me. Here is the second chapter, not my best in my opinion, I promise the story will get more interesting. Please do read and review and tell me if I have made any mistakes in my language (English is not my first language). Thanks :)**

* * *

"Here's your dinner and Pacman wants you to wear this tonight," a masked man came in at 7 with a food tray and a pink dress. It was a lacy dress that looked like it belongs to a hooker.

"Last I check, there are two of us and 1 food tray," Brenda said, looking at the direction of Gibbs.

"He can starve, he is not our concern." With that, the man left the room.

"Here, take my food," Brenda said, pushing the food tray towards Gibbs, "I don't usually eat dinner anyway."

"Why not?"

"So I wouldn't puke later," Brenda said, "don't worry, there are buckets full of glucose powder here, we wouldn't starve."

"What does he do to you?"

"Not important, I need to get back to work," Brenda said, but Gibbs could detect fear and sadness in her voice. There was something very odd about this girl.

* * *

"What happened to you?" Gibbs asked as Brenda was thrown back into the lab by 2 masked man around 3am. The dress she originally worn was torn into bits, leaving her almost naked. Her other eye was freshly bruised, in fact almost every single part of her body was covered in bruise. Cuts scattered across her back, blood trickling from them.

"I pissed him off, it doesn't matter, if all goes according to plan, we wouldn't be here tomorrow." Brenda said, picking herself up from the floor, trying to recover the little dignity she had left. It was bad enough that this Gibbs person had seen her hurt, now she was almost naked. Grabbing her coat to wrap around herself, she rinsed her mouth multiple times before stumbling to the corner of the lab where she fished out a first aid box.

"I didn't know they kept one here," Gibbs said eyeing the box.

"They kind of keep everything here, I think they left in a hurry. Well, it is a bonus now," Brenda said.

"Here, let me help," Gibbs said as he watched the girl struggle with the antiseptic solution. A flash of uncertainty and hesitation later, she reluctantly passed the gauze and the solution to Gibbs.

"This will sting," Gibbs warned. Brenda tensed under his touch but kept her mouth shut. Her face had a pink tinge, guess she was embarrassed with a man cleaning up her wounds. Using a piece of paper, she explained her plan in detail. She was good, Gibbs thought, good for a 16 year old.

"If it fails..." she started.

"We will die," Gibbs completed.

"Yes, we will," she agreed.

"Well, let's get some rest now, we will need it later," Gibbs suggested after she changed back into her old clothes. She nodded, before going to a corner of the lab, curling up into a ball. She looked so small, Gibbs thought, and yet she tried to look so grown up. -

* * *

"I think we are done," Brenda said, staring at her handy work. The entrance of the door was lined with piles of yellow coloured solids. On top of the yellow solid was a thin layer of white powder, bottles of flammable liquids like hexane and ethanol sat beside it.

"You sure it will work?"

"Well, I hope so... The idea is that they step on the white powder which explodes on impact and it is suppose to set off the TNT below and the ethanol and crap will just burn and they will die while we escape through the fire exit. Hopefully the remaining 5 guards will be too preoccupied with the fire and we will run into the woods, around 400m away from here. We just need to run fast enough," Brenda said gesturing at the pile of powder. Pointing at the scrunched up paper ball on the lab bench, she continued, "That will be our ammunition, just in case, it contains a contact explosive so it will probably explode when you throw it at a target, but also if you fall, so just be careful, don't fall, jump or any big movements."

"That's comforting," Gibbs said, but it came out a lot more sarcastic than he meant to.

"You have a better idea?" Brenda retorted back.

"No, lets gear up then, they will be coming with the food soon," Gibbs said, busying himself with the final preparation.

"Here," Brenda handed him a small packet of white powder.

"What is it?" Gibbs sounded curious.

"Potassium cyanide," Brenda replied simply.

"A suicide pill?"

"Technically, it is suicide powder."

"What did they do to you?" Brenda was a 16 year old girl, they are not suppose to know about suicide pills and death and everything. They are suppose to be interested in guys and rock stars.

"Look, I watch him kill and torture, trust me, I rather die," Brenda said, pocketing her own packet. As if on cue, the door opened and a loud banged followed.

"Brenda," Gibbs dived on top of Brenda. Fire alarm began ringing and anguished cursing of the 2 guards were heard.

"Come on, here," Brenda said. They scrambled up towards the fire exit, unlocked after the alarm. Brenda was right, there was indeed a woods 400 meters away, the plantation was not thick, but it was probably enough to provide some cover.

"Run Brenda," Gibbs and Brenda sprinted towards the woods. Thankfully, the remaining guards were too caught up by the fire hazard to realise their escaping victim. Brenda was fast, Gibbs thought, not many 16 year old can keep up the pace of a marine.

"I think we are safe?" Brenda panted as they enter the forest. Looking back, she saw the lab bursting into flame, it seems like those idiots did not realise that they have escaped.

"They are not very smart, are they?" Gibbs said.

"Yeah, but they are going to find out soon, we need to move," Brenda said.

"So what's your plan now?"

"Er..." For once Brenda looked uncertain, "nope, I never thought I will get this far. Do you know the way out of the woods?"

"Yes, come on," Gibbs said. He had been in these woods too much for his own good, mostly processing murder crime scenes.

"So, where are we going?" Brenda asked, scrambling after the marine.

"NCIS headquarters," Gibbs replied. Thankfully his companion kept quiet for the rest of the trek. Gibbs liked the silence.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so so sorry I took so long to post a new chapter, it turns out university was a lot more hectic than I have expected. Thank you all for your wonderful review. It is quite a crappy chapter, but I promise it gets better!**

* * *

Gibbs walked into the bullpen the next day, sulking and looking pissed. After all he did get kidnapped for a few hours. He ignored his team and led the girl straight into the conference room.

"You lied to me," Gibbs said simply as they sat face-to-face in the conference room.

"Yes I did," Brenda admitted.

"Why did you do that, Alexandra Wang?" Gibbs asked, using her real name, a result of a little bit of research he made his team do.

"Call me Alexi," she said instinctively. Looking at her hand, she seems uncomfortable, "well... I didn't know if I could trust you. I mean, you could be a bad guy." Seeing Gibbs skeptical face, Alexi added, "Sorry!"

"Don't apologise, it is a sign of weakness," Gibbs said his famous line. Leaning closer towards the girl, and ignore her feeble attempt to lean as far away as possible, he asked in a more gentle voice, "what happened in there, Alexi?"

"You don't have to know."

"It is my case, I need to know everything there is and I want you to help me," Gibbs explained.

"Well, I don't want to share," she said defiantly.

"Ok," Alexi seemed surprised that Gibbs did not press further. On cue, Ducky entered the conference room, "Jethro," he greeted his friend. Looking at Alexi, Ducky asked, "Who is it we have here?"

"Ducky, this is Alexandra Wang, or Alexi she likes to be called, and Alexi, this is Dr. Ducky Mallard, our medical examiner." Gibbs did the introductions. "Ducky is going to take a look at your injuries," Gibbs explained.

"I don't want a doctor," she said, somehow she sounded angry and scared. It was a tone that Gibbs had never heard before.

"Duck, can you excuse us for a minute?" Gibbs asked, nodding his thanks as Ducky left the room. That was something wrong and he felt it would be best if he sort it out with Alexi first.

"What's going on, Alexi?" Gibbs asked, clearly something was wrong. She was tensed and scared, something unusual for a girl who remained brave through everything in the past week.

"I don't need a doctor," Alexi insisted again.

"Alexi," Gibbs warned, trying to give her his best interrogation stare.

"What?" A glare in return.

"You are hurt, you need a doctor."

"I'm... er... I just don't like doctors," Alexi said, sounding embarrassed.

"Well... Ducky is not technically a doctor, he's a medical examiner," Gibbs tried to reason.

"It's comforting that he works on dead bodies? But last I check, I'm kinda alive." Alexi said, trying her best to sound relax. Gibbs just stared at her.

Ignoring Gibbs, Alexi asked, "How did you find out my name?" Gibbs made a point to remind her about the doctor but answered her question anyway, "when we called the parents of Brenda Lee, they said that their 4 year old daughter was sleeping in her bedroom, so I went through the missing person report, turns out there is a girl called Alexandra..."

"Yes, I got that part," Alexi interrupted him, "so what? You called my parents?"

"Yes, they are on their way," Gibbs said.

"Ok, how long?"

"They were in Florida, so hopefully by tonight? But judging by the storm over there, they might not reach till tomorrow."

"Oh," Alexi's reply was quiet.

"You looking forward to meeting them? You must miss them," Gibbs said softly.

"Yeah, I do," her reply was rather neutral, lacking of the eagerness that was expected.

"Come on... let's go meet Ducky," Gibbs said, standing up from his chair.

"You never forget, do you?" Alexi sighed, standing up too.

"Nope."

* * *

"So what have you got on Alexi?" Gibbs demanded walking into the bullpen.

"Where is the kid?" McGee asked.

"With Ducky," Gibbs replied before repeating himself in a more forceful tone, "So what have you got on Alexi?"

"Right boss..." McGee typed something into his computer and Alexi's file appeared on the plasma screen, "Alexandra Wang, a senior in Ashurst High school despite being only 16.. She's a genius in chemistry and mathematics. She lives with her parents at Old Mill Road."

"Background checks on the parents. It is rather odd that they are in Florida when their daughter is missing," Gibbs ordered.

"I spoke to the parents, they thought she just ran away to a friend's house following an argument. Her dad, David Wang, is a wealthy businessman and her mum, Caroline Wang, is a housewife. They migrated from China to US 20 years ago. Clean records." Ziva answered.

"She runs away a lot?"

"Well... according to her parents, she had been going through a difficult period of being a teenager and she had ran away twice before. They said that she was a trouble maker."

"But, according to her teachers in school, she was a model student, perfect GPA, helpful and polite." Tony added. Gesturing to a bunch of numbers on the screen, he continued, "We found her phone near the alley where we found the dead petty officer, guess she was kidnapped around there."

"Anything on Pacman?"

"On it boss," the three of them said at once.

* * *

"Alexi, meet Tony DiNozzo, Ziva David and Timothy McGee," Gibbs said leading Alexi into the bullpen. Indicating the empty table beside him, he pointed at the chair, "Stay here, Alexi, ask these 3 if you need anything."

"So we are on babysitting duty, boss?" Tony asked, staring at the girl.

"Nope, Alexi is on babysitting duty, you guys are on a case, find out who kidnapped her and me"

"Yes, boss," three of them said in unison. Turning to a very tired looking Alexi, he said, "Catch up on your sleep, you had a long day."

"Yes, sir,"

"Don't call me sir."

"Yes ma'am," she said with a grin.

"Alexi." A warning.

"Sorry Gibbs," she corrected, not looking sorry at all.

* * *

"Duck, what do you have for me?" Gibbs said his famous line as he walked into autopsy.

"She was pretty badly hurt, but most of the wounds were superficial. She was very tense, nervous and jumpy, so I conveniently skipped the stitches. She did have 1 cracked ribs though," Ducky said.

"Uh huh, you have any idea what the bastard did to her?" Gibbs asked further.

"Most likely she was slashed by a knife and punched several times." Ducky said, demonstrating the possible angles of attack.

"Thanks Duck," Gibbs said as he walked towards the door.

"Gibbs?" Gibbs stopped and turned to look at his friend, "many of the scars extend to pretty private places."

"She was raped?"

"Most probably. I tried to talk to her about it but she was not ready. She will open up when she is ready."

"Did you examine her?"

"Jethro, you need to know that it is a very delicate situation, she is still traumatised, now is not a good time. However, I did give her pills to prevent any... further complications. But Jethro, I did take her clothes and swabs from underneath the nails, Abby is processing them right now."

"Blood test?"

"No and I don't think you should push her about it. She is hurt and scared now despite her appearances." The gentle ME lightly objected.

Gibbs frowned, but left without saying anything. He looks angry, Ducky thought to himself, and rightly so.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what's up with you and Gibbs?" Ziva asked the moment Gibbs went out of sight.

"You already know," Alexi said.

"So how did you survive a night with him?" Tony asked.

"Technically, I only stayed half a night with him, and trust me, I rather he than my other companion."

"Pacman."

"Yeah."

"So what've you got?" Tony asked

"How many people died?" Alexi counter asked.

"All the guards did after the ethanol and hexane exploded, but Pacman escaped."

"He killed that petty officer and probably a few more people, he would torture them, before..."

"Slashing them to death," Gibbs' voice surprised them. Looking at Alexi, he asked again, "what else?"

"You remember the woods? He buried them there, the petty officer was an accident, he prefers killing girls, the officer got into the way, and he became the victim instead."

"Ziva, Tony, go find the bodies," Gibbs ordered, "McGee, go find everything you know about Pacman; Alexi, sleep!"

"Yes Gibbs," the four of them said.

* * *

"What do you have for me, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he entered the lab.

"Hi Gibbs," Abby greeted, "I'm still trying to decrypt the hard disk, it is going to take some time. It was fried pretty badly in the fire."

"The DNA?"

"The machine is dead for today, the repairman is coming at 8pm, you will have the results by tomorrow."

"You have nothing for me?" Gibbs asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Patience Gibbs!"

* * *

"Bad news Alexi, your parents are stuck, the storm at Florida is too big, the planes are backlogged, they can only reach noon tomorrow." Tony said.

"Ok..." she didn't sound sad. After pausing for a moment, she continued, "So where am I staying tonight?"

"With me," Gibbs interrupted as he walked into the bullpen.

"With you, boss?" McGee asked in disbelief but Gibbs ignored him, instead he turned to Alexi, "pack up."

* * *

"Nice room," Gibbs said as he entered Alexi's room. Alexi has requested to drop by her house before going to Gibbs' house to spend the night. Gibbs gladly agreed since it was only a 5 minute drive away. It was a simple room, small but neat. A single bed by the windows that overlooked a wood, a large bookshelf covered one side of the room filled with books of all genre and a desk with a macbook on it.

"Thanks," she said with a grin as she grabbed a backpack, her macbook and a change of clothes and an stack of books.

"Woah...why do you need those?" he pointed at the books.

"I need to go to the library to return them tomorrow. They are already overdue."

"You are not going to the library tomorrow," Gibbs said, taking the books from her hand and putting it on her desk.

"Why not?"

"Firstly, Ducky has not cleared you; second, we need to question you; thirdly, your kidnapper has not been caught so you are technically under protective custody," Gibbs said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Wonderful," she muttered as she slang her backpack over her shoulder.

* * *

"Chinese?" Gibbs asked once he gave her a small tour of his house. She looked more comfortable after a shower and a change of clothes. Perhaps she intentionally wore a long sleeved shirt that hid most of her injuries.

"I'm not very hungry," Alexi murmured. She had been quiet since they returned. Gibbs was not surprised. She was a man, or rather a girl, of few words and the series of events over the past day did little to loosen her tongue.

"You got to eat something, you didn't have anything for the day," Gibbs tried to reason. He was quite sure that Alexi only took a bottle of apple juice from the pantry and nothing more.

"Do you have graham crackers?" Frankly, that was probably the only thing she felt like eating. It was tasteless, just like how her emotions are numb.

"Sure," Gibbs said, tossing her a packet. "At least dip it in milk?" he said as he offered a glass of milk.

"Do you have kids, Gibbs?" Alexi asked, accepting the milk.

A pause. It was always a tricky question. "I had a daughter," Gibbs decided that honesty was the best option. Unlike the others who questioned more about the usage of the past tense verb, Alexi just said simply, "she must be a very lucky girl to have a father like you."

"What about your father?" Gibbs counter asked. Alexi had yet to request any form of contact with her parents. Most kids would be desperate for their parents at the moment.

"He's a businessman, busy all the time. Nothing special. Nowhere as cool as you," she replied innocently.

"Cool?"

"You shoot bad guys and chase after murderer, sure sounds a lot better than sitting at a desk and attending meetings." Gibbs laughed at her comment.

"So how's school?" Gibbs decided that keeping things normal was the best course of action for the moment.

"What's school?" Alexi joked, "oh... you mean the boring place where I've to be for 6 hours a day?"

"Boring huh? Heard you are good at it."

"That doesn't mean I like it," Alexi explained.

"You being bullied?" Gibbs wondered. On one hand, she was an asian girl who can be classified as a nerd, making her an easy target. On the other hand, he was quite sure that Alexi would do anything to get her revenge.

"Not if the person wanted to end up dead," Alexi said.

"So you can protect yourself huh?"

"More or less," Alexi answered, her face getting serious. Rising from her chair, she headed towards the sink to wash the mug. Guess this conversation is over, Gibbs thought.


	5. Chapter 5

"Gibbs?" Alexi's voice echoed from the top of the stairs. Moments later, a head popped out, "Can I come down?" Nodding his approval, Alexi slowly made her way down the steps into the basement.

"It is a nice boat," she said conversationally, gently stroking the boat, admiring it. Gesturing at the sander, she asked, "can I help?"

Soon, she was working on the boat side-by-side with Gibbs. She didn't talk, seemingly engrossed by the work she was doing.

"Why did you come down Alexi?" Gibbs asked gently after a stretch of silence.

"I can't sleep," Alexi admitted, but she did not take her eyes off the wood. Gibbs continued staring at her but said nothing. Letting out a sigh, she turned to face him, "What do you want to know?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"There is nothing to talk about."

"Well maybe you can tell me something about Pacman," Gibbs suggested, putting his hands on the sander to stop Alexi in her work.

Giving a sigh, Alexi settled herself onto a work bench, "I never saw his face, he wore a mask like the others, but his voice was familiar."

"Familiar?" Gibbs was surprised.

"Yeah, I heard the voice before when a gang fight broke out outside my school," Alexi said.

"So he is a gang member?" Gibbs asked.

"No... I think it belonged to the teacher who broke the fight up."

"And who's that?"

"An english teacher, Mr Joseph Kaur."

* * *

Back in the bullpen...

"Gibbs is going crazy like he did after Ari, isn't he?" McGee asked as he sipped his coffee and stared at his computer. It was way past midnight and Gibbs had insisted that they will work all night to find out who is Pacman.

"Well... he should know better than to kidnap Gibbs," Ziva replied.

"Why did he kidnap Gibbs, I mean, if I were Pacman, I will just kill Gibbs like the petty officer," Tony wondered. "And the girl, he tortured and killed all his other 4 victims after abusing and raping them yet the girl is kept alive, why?"

"Are you an idiot Tony?" Ziva asked. "He killed the girls after capturing them for months, it has only been 1 week since Alexi was captured, he probably has not gotten to killing her."

"And Gibbs?" Tony asked. They stared at each other, but no one had a clue to the answer.

"Where's Gibbs?" Abby asked, bursting into the bullpen.

"Probably in the basement with his ship?" McGee answered.

* * *

As if on cue, Gibbs' cellphone rang, "Gibbs," the answer was short and curt.

"Gibbs... Gibbs... Gibbs," Abby was clearly excited about something.

"What Abs?"

"The DNA from Alexi's nails, they match this guy called Joseph Kaur, and according to McGee, he is an english..."

"Teacher in Alexi's school, I know Abs," Gibbs completed her sentence.

"I hate it when you do that," Abby said.

"Boss, he lives at 56 Cherry Lane, but his house has been evacuated due to a termite crisis, we have no idea where he is now. McGee ran through his credit card records, phone records, nothing. In fact, no records for the last month." Tony asked.

Silence.

"We will...er... work on it boss," Tony said.

"Ya think?"

* * *

"What have you got?" The team was woken up by Gibbs the next day. He was sitting at his desk, sipping his second cup of coffee of the day. In the desk beside him, Alexi looked surprisingly awake, enjoying her cup of peppermint tea.

"It's only 0700, you could let us sleep a bit more," Tony grumbled as he searched his drawer for his toothbrush.

"I did, we came in at 0630." Gibbs said before giving him a Gibbs stare.

"Right boss... er... we are still working on it," he looked kind of embarrassed.

"Well... work faster," Gibbs was annoyed and frustrated.

"It's hard, boss, it's Sunday today, everyone is taking the day off," Tony explained.

"Abs, what have you got?" Maybe Abby had better luck than his team. This Joseph bastard is proving to be a lot harder to capture than he thought. Who knew an English teacher could be so cunning.

"You are not going to like this," Abby turned around from her desk.

"Like what?"

"The partial print I found on the knife that killed the petty officer, it belongs to Alexi," Abby said. Gibbs wordlessly passed her the Caf-Pow before going upstairs.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for taking so long to update! Please like and review and do point out any grammar/spelling mistakes. Thank you!

* * *

"Alexi," Gibbs said, taking the seat opposite her in the conference room, showing her a picture of the dead petty officer, "do you recognise this man?"

Alexi stared at the picture for a while, before averting her eyes. "He's the dead petty officer." It was a statement but it sounded more like a question.

"And this?" Gibbs showed her the picture of the murder weapon. An army knife with a serrated wide blade.

"No."

"Alexi, don't lie to me," Gibbs said warningly, "let me ask you again. Do. You. Recognise. This. Knife?"

"Yes, it killed him," Alexi said in defeat.

"What happened in there?"

Silence.

"Alexi, what happened in there?" Gibbs said in a more gentle tone.

"I tried to save him, I really, really did, but he died because of me. I killed him, Gibbs." Gibbs wanted to continue asking, but Alexi went on with her story, "He said that if I didn't do it, he would kill him, but I couldn't... I just couldn't do it, so he stabbed him. I tried to save him, but there was so much blood, I couldn't stop it, and he died. I killed him."

"What did he want you to do?"

"To have sex with him."

"But you did in the end," Gibbs said matter of factly.

"Yes."

"Why?" Gibbs already knew the answer.

"To save you, Gibbs." He did not know what to say, something rare to him, Gibbs always knew what to say.

Gibbs gently lifted her face to meet his eyes. "You need the exam, Ducky can do it." Both Alexi and Gibbs knew that the 'exam' was not just the external injuries. Looking at her scared face, Gibbs added, "Or I could bring you to a female doctor, or maybe when your parents are back?"

"No, I don't want them to know," Alexi said quickly.

"Ok... I can get Ziva to be with you?"

"No, I want to be alone." After a long pause, she added, "Ducky is fine."

"How is she, Duck?" Gibbs asked the moment Ducky came out of autopsy.

"She is not pregnant, thank god. There was some bruising and tearing. I gave her a course of antibiotics to prevent any possible infection." Ducky answered.

"But how is she?" Gibbs was more interested in how she was mentally.

"Ah..." Ducky understood immediately, "She had been very brave throughout the whole process, but I gave her a sedative pill to aid her. She is putting on a facade, Jethro, and a good one, I might add."

"Can I speak to her?"

"When she wakes up, the sedative knocked her out and I think she needs it," Ducky said, patting Gibbs on his back. Gibbs walked into the autopsy to find Alexi sleeping on one of the metal table, covered by a thick and comfortable looking blanket. She looked peaceful and young, clearly the sedative did her some good.

"Hey Alexi," Gibbs greeted her as she opened her eyes.

"Hey," Alexi said sleepily as she pushed herself up. Momentarily confused, but she quickly came to her senses.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." Gibbs wanted to ask more questions but decided against it. They would have more time to talk about it in the future.

"Your parents are on their way, ETA 5 minutes, you wanna head up?" Alexi followed Gibbs up into bullpen.

"Ma, Ba," Alexi greeted her parents in Chinese hesitantly as they walked out of the elevator. Immediately, her mother rushed to her and gave her a hug, but it was an awkward hug. Alexi was stiff throughout the embrace, clearly hugging was not a common thing.

"Home, now!" her father said in an ordering tone once the brief hug between the mother and child ended.

"Woah..." Gibbs stepped in between the father and daughter, "she is under protective custody. Our agents will move your whole family into a safe house in about an hour."

"No, we refuse," David said firmly, "My daughter is coming home with me."

"No, your daughter is not going anywhere but a safehouse," Gibbs threatened for David to argue.

"Ok."

"Ok?" Something was wrong, he gave in way too early.

"Yes, she will go with you."

"You are not coming?"

"I don't see why the whole family has to suffer for her troubles," he replied simply. Turning to look at Alexi he continued in Chinese (which Gibbs understood), "you will behave yourself, do you understand? You cannot disgrace us anymore." With that, he pulled his wife to the exit. Caroline turned around to look at her daughter one last time before following her husband. Gibbs stared at them in disbelief, talk about asian parenting.

"It's ok," Alexi said calmly beside him. Truthfully it was not. It hurt every time her dad spoke to her that way, but he was her dad, there was not much she could do about it. She hated him and yet she loved him. Time after time, she would kid herself into thinking that he would change and be the loving father she always wanted and time after time she got disappointed. Soon, she learned to live with it.


End file.
